Why Senior Golfers are Leaving Bunker Shots in the Sand and the Best way to Cure this (Video) - by Dean Butler
Why Senior Golfers are Leaving Bunker Shots in the Sand and the Best way to Cure this (Video) - by Dean Butler

Well I'm going to talk about bunker shots and a lot of people tend to leave the balls in the bunker and really, if you watch the pros on the circuit, you will think oh they make it look so easy. Well, really it’s the easiest shot in the game of golf and the reason for it is you don't have to hit the ball. You see, the only shot where I don't hit the ball, it’s sat on a nice cushion on the sand to start with. So the biggest reason that people tend to get in the bunker and fail to get out isn’t that necessarily that the set-up is wrong, it’s just that they tend to decelerate into the ball.

Remember the ball is in a nice soft sand, so you have got the density underneath, you got density behind, so the clubface, when it makes entry into the sand a couple of inches behind, it’s going to start to decelerate. So if you are in the bunker and the flag is just on the other side, because this is like a little green side bunker splash shot, here people tend to get into this sort of where they kind of decelerate, they have quit on their swing. Well, you have got to have clubhead speed and the reason it's one of the easier shots is because we are going to say to you, right, pull that clubface in line, set yourself up and here you are saying, well I do that, well that's good. Let's put the ball position slightly further forward than centre, keep the weight on that left-hand side and what I want you to do most importantly is to go back and keep the arms straight and break your wrists. So I want a nice steep angle here, I want it to go look like this, look at the angle I am creating. Just pick that club up, but don't bend the arms, keep the arms straight and just hinge from wrist and when you come down, I want you to execute into that place where your club was hovering because of course you're not allowed to touch the sand when you are in the bunker or when playing the shot. So when you are over it, break the wrist and I want you to come down and I want you to accelerate through the sand. Now remember that we are through, because when you come in, too many people kind of come in and stop, go through the sand, so here we go. Wrist break, up, and you can see, look where my hands have finished here. And the hands have gone through there purely and simply because I accelerated. I have gone back, I got to hit down through the sand, the cushion, the sand throws the ball out. So we don't want any contact with the ball, whatsoever. So it's all about set-up, it's all about early wrist break, keep that weight 60-40, which keeps that lovely, lovely angle, a steep angle there and accelerate down into the sand, but don't go near the ball. A best tip, imagine that golf ball, get your finger in the sand, draw a circle like a moat around it by about 2 or 3 inches. Imagine that’s a fried egg, the ball is an egg yolk, you don't want to hit the egg, go to the egg white, keep well away, take it up, execute down and commit yourself to the shot, and you should find that ball coming out of that bunker, if not every single time, the vast majority of times. It's just a case of getting to the bunker, change your technique and commit yourself to the job and you should see the results pretty down quickly. Go and enjoy this and you will see the results. 2013-10-28

Well I'm going to talk about bunker shots and a lot of people tend to leave the balls in the bunker and really, if you watch the pros on the circuit, you will think oh they make it look so easy. Well, really it’s the easiest shot in the game of golf and the reason for it is you don't have to hit the ball. You see, the only shot where I don't hit the ball, it’s sat on a nice cushion on the sand to start with. So the biggest reason that people tend to get in the bunker and fail to get out isn’t that necessarily that the set-up is wrong, it’s just that they tend to decelerate into the ball.

Remember the ball is in a nice soft sand, so you have got the density underneath, you got density behind, so the clubface, when it makes entry into the sand a couple of inches behind, it’s going to start to decelerate. So if you are in the bunker and the flag is just on the other side, because this is like a little green side bunker splash shot, here people tend to get into this sort of where they kind of decelerate, they have quit on their swing. Well, you have got to have clubhead speed and the reason it's one of the easier shots is because we are going to say to you, right, pull that clubface in line, set yourself up and here you are saying, well I do that, well that's good.

Let's put the ball position slightly further forward than centre, keep the weight on that left-hand side and what I want you to do most importantly is to go back and keep the arms straight and break your wrists. So I want a nice steep angle here, I want it to go look like this, look at the angle I am creating. Just pick that club up, but don't bend the arms, keep the arms straight and just hinge from wrist and when you come down, I want you to execute into that place where your club was hovering because of course you're not allowed to touch the sand when you are in the bunker or when playing the shot.

So when you are over it, break the wrist and I want you to come down and I want you to accelerate through the sand. Now remember that we are through, because when you come in, too many people kind of come in and stop, go through the sand, so here we go. Wrist break, up, and you can see, look where my hands have finished here. And the hands have gone through there purely and simply because I accelerated. I have gone back, I got to hit down through the sand, the cushion, the sand throws the ball out. So we don't want any contact with the ball, whatsoever.

So it's all about set-up, it's all about early wrist break, keep that weight 60-40, which keeps that lovely, lovely angle, a steep angle there and accelerate down into the sand, but don't go near the ball. A best tip, imagine that golf ball, get your finger in the sand, draw a circle like a moat around it by about 2 or 3 inches. Imagine that’s a fried egg, the ball is an egg yolk, you don't want to hit the egg, go to the egg white, keep well away, take it up, execute down and commit yourself to the shot, and you should find that ball coming out of that bunker, if not every single time, the vast majority of times.

It's just a case of getting to the bunker, change your technique and commit yourself to the job and you should see the results pretty down quickly. Go and enjoy this and you will see the results.